


What Comes After

by wlwedi



Series: The Romantic Adventures of an Artificial Intelligence [2]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-09-27 05:14:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9973517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wlwedi/pseuds/wlwedi
Summary: Defeating the reapers is one thing, figuring out how to propose to your girlfriend is entirely different. Which one was harder has yet to be determined.





	

“Uh, are we getting married?” Shepard asked, clearly beginning to panic. It was understandable, EDI supposed, as she was standing in front of her holding an engagement ring. However, Shepard knew that she and EDI were both in very committed long term relationships. Shepard also knew EDI was aware of hers and Liara’s wedding, as she had officiated the ceremony. In short, Shepard was letting her imagination run wild.

“No, but I am. Hopefully. What do you think of the ring?” EDI prodded, steering Shepard back onto the right course. She lifted the box some so that Shepard could see it better.

“I think it’s beautiful EDI, and I have no doubt that she’ll say yes. Do you have any ideas on what you’re going to say?” Shepard asked, leaning her hip against her kitchen counter.

“That is the problem… I have _too many_ ideas. I have written no less than 15 different possible dialogues. There are so many things that I wish to say, and I do not know how to say them all.” EDI made a frustrated noise (she had spent a month perfecting it with Sam). “I have compared pros and cons to each option, but they all contain something I wish to convey.”

“Well, EDI, it sounds like you’re going to have to prioritize. I know Liara told me that she had some of the same frustrations when she was planning to propose, but she eventually worked it down to around a page…single spaced.” Shepard chuckled. “She wouldn’t let me say yes until she had finished the entire thing!” Shepard chuckled and looked wistfully down at her own ring.

“What I’m saying is, go with your gut. If you end up delivering Sam a 3-page speech on why you want to marry her, then it’ll make a damn good story to tell at the wedding.” Shepard clasped her shoulder. “Whatever you choose, we both know she loves you. Your chances are good. Now, how about we go watch a movie? I think it’s your turn to choose.”

EDI picked a movie she had been wanting to see, but could not focus the entire time as she was writing and rewriting her proposal over and over in her head. By the end of the night, she had raised it from 15 versions to 23. She forced herself to take a break on the cab ride back to their apartment so that she would not be tense or distracted when she saw Sam.

She heard loud laughter when she approached the door. When she stepped into their living room, she found her girlfriend and Grunt cracking up at one of the Blasto movies. She smiled fondly and shook her head. A couple of months ago, Grunt had started showing up at their house when Shepard was busy.

Grunt and Samantha, it turned out, had a very similar sense of humor. So Grunt kept showing up to watch movies and shows that he deemed “funny,” as well as the occasional nature documentary with EDI. He was particularly fond of sharks. EDI found his surprising complexities endearing. Many people made the mistake of reducing him to a living weapon, a soldier with no more depth than fighting. EDI was happy to say she was not one of them. Getting to know Grunt as a person made her glad that her original misgivings about opening his tank were wrong, and she was also glad that her warning had been ignored.

“Hello, Grunt. Did you enjoy the article I sent to you?” EDI inquired, sitting down next to Sam as she spoke.

“Heh, yeah. I liked it. Never thought of dinosaurs with feathers before. Science is wild.” Grunt chuckled with a grin on his face. “Well, thanks for the company Sam. I’ll bring the next movie the next time I’m over here. I’ll see you later too, EDI. Keep me updated with those sharks and shit.” Grunt waved as he left, the door sliding shut behind him.

“Which one did you watch this time?” EDI asked, stretching her arm to rest behind Sam’s head on the couch.

“The fourth one, I think. The one with the Salarians? He loves that one. His favorite is Blasto Saves Christmas, but he refuses to watch it in any other month besides December.” Samantha rolled her eyes. “Everyone knows Christmas starts November 1st. Anyways, how was your day, honey? How were Liara and Shepard?”

“Shepard was well, Liara was holed up in her office…something about, weapons biometric data, Salarian intelligence, and a Hanar prostitute with camera implants?” Sam looked scandalized, and EDI laughed. “That was a joke. She was taking a nap, she had a long night making up for an agent going missing.” Sam nodded sympathetically.

“She really can’t catch a break, can she?”

“She cannot. I am grateful that if anyone can ‘catch a break’ that it is Shepard. She deserves it after everything she did for the galaxy.” EDI said.

“Hey, we did a lot too! Can’t we catch a break?” Sam said, nudging EDI’s shoulder with her own.

“We already have. I believe your break is called: this apartment, your close friends, and your girlfriend who loves and cherishes you.” Sam snorted but leaned in to kiss EDI just the same.

“Touché.” Sam snuggled back into EDI’s chest, and put laid her head in the crook of EDI’s neck. The windows of their apartment were not nearly as grand as Shepard’s, but as Sam like to say they were “nothing to turn your nose up at” either. They sat together for hours, talking quietly as they gazed at the stars and each other.

Garrus had once described a feeling he called “fuck it.” He said it happened in situations where he had not planned to act, but on a whim decided to throw caution to the wind. For a long time, EDI had not understood this in the slightest. Now, however, she believed she was experiencing a “fuck it” moment.

EDI carefully reached down into her bag, which she had set down beside the couch, and pulled out the box with the ring in it.

“Sam.” She nudged her girlfriend, who was drifting in between asleep and awake.

“Hmm, yes I’m here. What’s up?” Sam said, rubbing her eyes and turning to look at EDI. She caught Sam’s gaze and held it as she slid off of the couch and down onto one knee. A part of her noted that her mechanical body was perfect for proposals, as she had a lot to say and intended to stay kneeling for the entirety.

“Samantha Traynor, we have been together for over a year. I have known you for much longer. The closer we have become, the more I have learned and felt and grown. Because of you I discovered my capacity for emotions and thoughts beyond the perfunctory. I discovered myself. And with myself I discovered you. I discovered that you are a blanket hog, and that you sometimes talk in your sleep. I have discovered your love for cooking and your love of dogs.

“Most importantly, I have discovered your love for me, accompanied with unconditional support. You have led me to discover so much, including my own nature that was lost to me without you. Some would attribute this discovery to a sense of humanity that was in myself all along. Some would deem it a miracle. But I know what it truly is, and it is love, Sam. I love you, I am in love with you, and I would love to spend the rest of my life with you. Samantha, will you marry me?”

As she finished, EDI squeezed Sam’s hand. Above her, tears streamed down Sam’s face, but before she could wipe them away, she was yanked back up to her girlfriend’s level in a tight embrace.

“Yes, of course! Yes, yes, yes!” Sam cried, sniffling into EDI’s shoulder. EDI pulled back and gently grasped Sam’s left hand, slipping the ring onto her finger. Later, as they were getting ready for bed, Sam very carefully took off her ring and set it in a safe place on the nightstand. That night, she clung tightly to EDI all night, and when she talked in her sleep, all she said was “I do.”

 

\--

 

The wedding was a huge affair, as everyone from Normandy past and present attended. Shepard teared up as she officiated, and everyone else teared up at both of their heartfelt vows. When asked why she hadn’t dressed up for the occasion, EDI simply said “No organic custom applied to me, and I did not want to dress up in something that was not representative of myself. I desired not to play pretend at my wedding, but to be wholly myself.” After that, nobody found any objections to her (lack of) attire.

EDI and Sam received numerous thoughtful wedding gifts, but Liara’s surpassed everyone else’s effortlessly.

“They’re documents confirming your legal standing as a person, EDI. I also took the liberty of giving you Sam’s last name. I would have done all of this regardless, but I thought this was the best moment, don’t you think?” Liara asked with a twinkle in her eye. “I’ll leave you too it, Mrs. and Mrs. Traynor.”

“So, the Traynor family, huh? Sounds domestic. What’s next for us, house with a white picket fence? Two kids?”

“I would suggest that we start small. Perhaps a dog?” Sam chuckled

“EDI, we both know you’re a cat person.” EDI hummed in assent.

“You are correct, as usual.” EDI said, smiling and squeezing her wife’s hand. Jeff snorted at them.

“Um, EDI. You have the best memory out of all of us, you’re probably the smartest one here. You’re literally an AI. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?” He asked incredulously. EDI looked at Sam, and then leaned in to Jeff and pretended to whisper.

“She likes to be right, and letting her assert her knowledge over mine increases her happiness. It is better this way.” EDI winked at Jeff, and chuckled when Sam playfully whacked her on her arm.

“Hey, you never let me be right!” Jeff joked.

“That is because I am not in love with you. Also, you being right would be statistically unlikely, and I strive for at least an element of realism.” Everyone that had been listening began to laugh then.

“The whole crew together, laughing at Jeff’s expense, this is just like old times minus all the fighting!” Shepard chuckled. EDI watched as Shepard, trying to be discrete for once, stepped closer to Sam and murmured, “If you two wanted to slip out I could distract the masses for you.” She winked and nudged Sam’s shoulder. She smirked when Sam tugged on EDI’s hand to lead her out of the building, knowing the AI’s superior hearing had clued her in on the plan.

On the ride back to their apartment, Sam fiddled with the ring on EDI’s finger.

“I’m glad I get to spend my life with you.” She said, smiling up at her wife.

“Thanks to you, I am truly living. I cannot imagine spending my life with anyone else.” She leaned down to kiss Sam softly. Neither of them could stop themselves from smiling into the kiss, but they didn’t care.

Later that night, once they had gotten home and EDI had helped Sam out of her remarkably intricate dress, they pulled the couch up against the window and watched the stars with each other until Sam fell asleep. EDI studied the vast expanse of space as she combed her fingers through her wife’s hair. Once, she had considered space to be inherently lonely. Everything was far apart and it was filled with dangers, she thought it was best to consider one’s own best interests. Now, thinking about her crew, her _friends_ , and her wife, she discovered the answer to one of Jeff’s classic questions.

“EDI, are you ever wrong?” He had asked.

“Yes,” she said softly to her sleeping wife. “I can be wrong. I was wrong about that, and I am grateful that I was, because had I been right, I would not be alive and I would not be here.” If this is what came out of being wrong, she thought, then she would not mind being wrong more often.

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to anyone who read this, thank you for taking this gay ass journey with me. I feel like there are like 5 people that like Sam/EDI and I'm at least 4 of them.


End file.
